Common Fears & OCD Subtypes
OCD subtypes can help people to find community with others who share similar experiences, and they can assist therapists in designing targeted treatment plans, but they don't tell the whole story. If you can't find your subtype, that doesn't mean you don't have OCD—everyone's experience is unique, and many people's OCD symptoms don't fit neatly into any specific theme.
Sensorimotor OCD
Sensorimotor OCD, also known as Somatic OCD, is a subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) that involves a fixation on bodily sensations or autonomic (involuntary) bodily functions. These obsessions with physical sensations or bodily processes often become very distressing or overwhelming. More common examples include obsessions about breathing, blinking, swallowing, one’s heart rate, or posture, but any physical sensation or process can become the subject of Sensorimotor/Somatic obsessions. Common compulsions may involve counting one’s actions, checking one’s sensations, repeatedly researching physical feelings or processes, or adhering to rigid “rules” about breathing or blinking, for example.
You’re not enjoying the counting—it’s distracting, and it makes you feel tense. It feels impossible to stop, but it's not. Here's what you can do.
By Elle Warren
Reviewed by April Kilduff, MA, LCPC
Yes—these two terms are interchangeable. This subtype of OCD can become completely debilitating, and is often difficult to identify.
By Elle Warren
Reviewed by April Kilduff, MA, LCPC
These symptoms can be a sign of two different but related mental health conditions—both of which are highly treatable.
By Elle Warren
Reviewed by April Kilduff, MA, LCPC
Somatic OCD fear of staring involves fears about staring excessively at things or people, often at body parts of others.
If you’re experiencing obsessions about how you chew, including a hyperawareness of how you are chewing, or recurring fears about your chewing or swallowing, this could be a sign of OCD.
OCD fear of proximity involves uncomfortable reactions to proxemics such as obsessive worries focused on proximity or space to others.
Reviewed by Taylor Newendorp
Somatic OCD, a subtype of OCD, causes anxiety and fear related to non-conscious functions within the body such as fear of breathing.
Reviewed by Taylor Newendorp
With fear of swallowing OCD, the sufferer experiences a hyperfocus on the mechanics of swallowing or other sensations related to eating food.
By Melanie Dideriksen LPC, CAADC
Reviewed by Taylor Newendorp
Blinking OCD, a sensorimotor obsession in OCD, is an obsessive or intrusive fixation on blinking or sensations around the eyes.
Reviewed by Taylor Newendorp